Apparatus for unplugging pipe in a well bore



APPARATUS FOR UNPLUGGING PIPE IN A WELL BORE Filed May l5, 1958 L. K. MOORE May 8, 1962 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 mwen/cf le. Mae.:

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May 8, 1962 L. K. MOORE APPARATUS FOR UNPLUGGING PIPE IN A WELL BORE Filed May l5, 1958 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 WQE/VC' K. A400/@E INVENTOR.

United States Patent Oiice 3,033,289 Patented May 8, 1962 3,033,289 APPARATUS FOR UNPLUGGING PIPE IN A WELL BORE Lawrence K. Moore, New Orleans, La. (3716 Ingold St., Houston 5, Tex.) Filed May 15, 1958, Ser. No. 735,431 7 Claims. (Cl. 166-115) This invention relates to apparatus suitable for use on a Wire line or a cable for cleaning out material plugging the bore of a continuous length of pipe, or separated length of pipe, called a fish, drill collars, tubing and the like, in a well, and more particularly, to the method and apparatus for cleaning out and carrying away the plugging material and other debris from such pipe in a well in situations where pipe or tubing above the plugged pipe has a substantially full-hole in which there are no special means for providing a seat and seal therein.

This application is a continuation-in-part of my copending application Serial No. 577,365, now Patent No. 2,935,130 entitled Method of and Apparatus for Opening Plugged Pipe in a Well Bore, iiled by Lawrence K. Moore April 10, l956, which is, in turn, a continuationin-part of abandoned application Serial No. 349,385, entitled Hydraulic Clean-Out Apparatus for Opening Plugged Well Pipe, tiled by Lawrence K. Moore April 17, 1953.

The inside of a continuous length of pipe disposed in a well bore may become plugged with heavy or dehydrated mud, or lost circulation material, and a fish left in the well may become additionally plugged with wall cuttings and debris which may fall into the top thereof.

It is desirable to clean out the bore of a continuous length of plugged pipe or fish for any one of a number of reasons. Thus, for example, it may be necessary to clean out the plugged pipe to regain circulation. In addition, it may be necessary to remove such a plug in order to run some form of wire line tool, such as a freepoint indicator, back-oit tool, or gun perforator, to a point in the pipe or fish below the plugging material. The running of any of the above-mentioned wire line devices, after removal of the plug, will usually greatly facilitate recovery of the plugged pipe or iish from the well bore.

Prior to my invention, a conventional method for cleaning out a lish, included the steps of lowering a continuous string of smaller tubing, referred to as macaroni, into the plugged pipe or tubing and washing out the plug by circulation of fluid downwardly inside the smaller tubing. This method was very time consuming and expensive for the reason that the smaller tubing first had to be obtained, transported to the well location, and then joined together as it was lowered into the well. While all these preparations were made, the string of pipe to be washed out could, in addition, plug higher in the well bore.

Another prior art method consists of running spudding tools on a wire line into the well bore in an attempt to knock the bridge out of the pipe. This is generally not effective if the plugging material has any subsantial depth for the reason that there is no means of actually removing the plugging material from the pipe.

Still another method consists of the running of small g diameter hydrostatic bailers on a wire line and attempting to bail the material from the pipe. Thi-s method is also of generally little value if there is a substantial amount of plugging material as the bailer can only bring out small amounts of material on each run, thus requiring many return runs into the hole. In addition, the washing or loosening eiect of the bailer is often not effective at all in breaking up the material so that it can enter the bailer and be picked up, and further, bailers of this type often tend to stick so as to create a new problem, rather than to solve the old one.

be lowered after it is joined section by section.

Prior to my invention, if any of the above methods failed to unplug the pipe or fish, the only alternative was to remove the pipe by making outside mechanical cuts, when possible, which is a very expensive method, or abandoning that portion ofthe plugged pipe remaining in the hole.

Those skilled in the oil well drilling art will readily appreciate that my hydraulic clean-out device, which can be run or lowered on a wire line or cable, and thus wash out as much as 500 feet of plug on one run, does save considerable time, and is much more economical, elective and advantageous than :any of the methods of the prior art mentioned above.

The present invention provides a method operable with a wire line or cable for cleaning out the -bore of a plugged pipe or sh comprising the operational step of: Lowering means forming a nozzle into and so that its lower end extends below the lowest section of tubing. This tubing can gene-rally be of any type and frequently may be the so-called well tubing which is generally centrally located in the casing of an oil well.

The second step of my invention is to set a packing means, carried on my tool, in a collar or similar structure in well tubing, for example, just above the plugging material, whereby I form a seat and a seal in one operation. Then, uid is circulated downwardly inside of the well tubing or drill pipe and through the nozzle-forming means at a pressure suliicient .to form a jet of fluid at the lower end thereof whereby the material plugging the pipe or fish will be eroded or washed out and carried away by the flow of fluid through perforated holes, circulation ports, or a break in the pipe, upwardly between the well bore and lthe unplugged tubing.

`My invention is particularlyk adapted for use in any kind of tubing in that it does not require a restriction or seat within the tubing, which might be otherwise necessary as a pack-off or seal location used to withstand a portion of the pressures of the circulating uid, so as to avoid pumping the tool olf the line. In other words, my invention is particularly valuable in full-hole pipe and most commonly used drill pipe which have restrictions or reduced diameters but which have no definite restrictions which, in themselves, would form a Vso-called seat.

In my method, the nozzle-forming means may be easily lowered into the well by a conventional wire line or cable. It is well known by those skilled in the art that a wire line may be run into a well at an extremely faster rate than a continuous length of small tubing or drill pipe which must Thus, my invention provides a more efficient and economical method of unplugging the bore of a fish or pipe.

The word pipe as used above, and as used hereinafter, is meant to include not only the usual string of drill pipe, but also the usual string of well or production tubing. This pipe is an outer pipe and, in practicing my invention, we usually employ a smaller pipe or tubular member which is usually externally flush and which is hereafter referred to as small diameter tubing for use inside of said outer pipe or casing.

It is, therefore, an object of the invention to provide an improved method of cleaning out a plugged pipe or a plugged fish in a well bore.

It is a further object of the invention to provide means n -plugged pipe or iish from becoming stuck in pipe in a well.

It is a principal object of the present invention to provide a clean-out tool which has a sealing means combined with a holdingmeans to prevent the tool from being pumped off the line.

These androther objects and advantages of the present invention will be better understood when considered with the following description taken in connection with the accompanying drawings made a part of this specitication. The device of the 'present invention is by no means limited to the specific embodiments illustrated in the drawings, since they are shown merely for purposes of description. v a

FIG. lav is an elevational view of the upper'y portion of the tool being lowered into the well bore within the 'well tubing; l Y

FIG. lb is a downward continuation of FIG. la land shows the lower portion of the tool being lowered into the well bore in the well tubing;

FIG. 2 is a sectional view taken along the line 2 2 of FIG. Ibi; p

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line 3-3 of FIG. 1b; Y Y

FIG. 4 is an enlarged` fragmentary cross-sectional view of the upper shearing ring andthe sleeve packing gland also shown at the top of FIG. lb; v

FIG. is an elevational view illustrating a step in preparation of setting the packer; l l y p FIG. 6a is an elevational view of the tool showing the packer Set and the tool sealed oit in a well tubing; and

FIG. 6b is a downward continuation of FIG. 6a illustrating the ow path ofthe plugging material being eroded from the plugged pipe. l

In the drawings, in FIG. la, the upper part of the tool is shown in a well bore, where the outer pipe 1 may be the casing or production tubing and the inner pipe 2 may be either well tubing, drill tubing, or any tubing within the well by which the sections thereof may be joined by collars 10 which make available a surface, such as 2a, on the ends of the tubing, to support the weight of the packing or sealing means 15, as shown in FIG. 6a. Between tubing 2 and pipe 1 is annulus 28 and between the tool and tubing 2 is annulus 29. FIG. 1b is a continuation at the lower end of FIG. 1a and shows the remainder of the tool as it is lowered into the well bore.

At the top of the tool is cable or wire line 3 which is secured to the tool by rope socket 4. The tool may be lowered into the well in a typical manner from a derrick or from a wire line truck, neither of which is shown.

In the tool, directly below the rope socket, may be weight 5, shown threadedly engaged at one end to the bottom of the rope socket and threadedly engaged at its other end to the jar 6. The lower end of the jar is threadedly engaged with a circulating head 7 which, in turn, is threadedly engaged to the main body of the tool. The latter may be in the form of typical small diameter outside ush tubing 9, commonly known as macaroni Openings or holes 8, extending through the wall of circulation head 7, provide uid passages from the interior of tubing 2 into the tlow passage 30 of tubing 9.

At the top of FIG. 1b, shown in enlarged detail in FIG. 4, is shear ring 11, surrounding tubing 9, and having a thin break-ott ring or pin portion 11a embedded therein. Directly below shear ring 11 is sleeve 14 which surrounds and is in slidable but snug, sealed engagement with tubing 9. The seal between sleeve 14 and tubing 9 is formed by packing 13 which is held in the proper sealing relationship by gland 12.

The main body of sleeve 14 is formed by cylindrical surface 16 having a small outside diameter. A larger diameter portion 16b extends outwardly of the gland packing 13. Longitudinally between the cylindrical surface 16, shown in plan view in FIG. 2 and large diameter portion 16b is a conical surface 16a, shown in FIG. 1b to be immediately above the rubber or rubber-like packing means which, in its non-sealing position, surrounds the small diameter portion 16. Directly below and in abutment with packer 15 is ring 19 in which the upper ends 0f downwardly extending and outwardly biased legs or pack-off springs 20 are secured. Legs 20 are shown to be held inwardly and substantially contiguous with the small diameter portion 16 of sleeve 14 in grooves or slots 21a in sleeve or trip cup 21, shown in plan view in FIG. 3. Packer 15, ring 19 and cup 21 are slidably engaged on sleeve 14. In ring 19 is pin 18 extending inwardly into vertical groove 17 in sleeve 14 and shown to be inwardly of packing material 15 in FIG. 1b. Secured in and extending upwardly from trip cup 21 are outwardly biased wire or wires 22. Below trip cup 21 is a trip cup stop collar 23 which is shown to be threadedly secured to the exterior of sleeve 14. Below sleeve 14 on tubing 9 is shearable retrieving ring 24, and on the lower end of tubing 9 is nozzle 25.

If the plug in drill pipe or in a fish in a well, or in any other well tubing, is not of too great a depth, it can sometimes be pumped out by pumping into the tubing in question. However, where the plugging material is of considerable depth, as is frequently the case, it cannot be pumped out downwardly in the pipe, but must be eroded away and circulated out upwardly. In order to do this, the sections of the unplugged tubing in the well are kept intact except that the first section above the plug is unscrewed from the plugged portion of the tubing. This is accomplished by conventional means, usually including a shot, in or near the collar to be unscrewed, to jar it loose. Where there is a stand of any kind of tubing in a well which becomes plugged at a relatively lower level, it can be readily understood that it is desirable that the tubing be unplugged without removing it from the well; Thus, in the practice of the present invention, unplugging' is accomplished by disconnecting the unplugged tubing' from the plugged portion at the rst collar above the plug. The location of the plug can be established by well known methods.

It is common to lower tools, such as tube 9, into pipes on a wire line by two methods. Tools may be lowered into pipe and carried down simply by virtue of their own weight, or they may be pumped down. In the latter case, the clearance between the tool and the pipe within which it is being lowered may be restricted by a flexible packer, or if the largest diameter on the tool is not too small in comparison with the inside diameter of the pipe, a pressure diierential can be created so that the tool will be forced downwardly.

The tool, according to the present invention, is shown just prior to being set in FIG. 5, set or packed-oft' in FIG. 6a, and in operation in FIG. 6b. Referring to FIG. 5, after the location of the plug has been determined and the joint immediately above has been removed from the collar on the plugged pipe, or from one adjacent to it, the tool may be lowered into the unplugged pipe to a position where it is in contact with the plug, or adjacent thereto.

More specifically, to set the packer, the tool is generally lowered below the lowest collar in the unplugged pipe. After it is thus lowered in the unplugged pipe, it may be anchored in the said lowest collar 10a so that it can function at the point nearest to the plugged material.

While the tool is being lowered, trip wires 22 are in continuous pressure contact with the inside surface of tubing 2. After the top ends of wires 22 are lowered past the last collar, the tool is then raised by means of the wire line until spring wires 22 engage the lower end 2a of the next section of the unplugged pipe, as in collar 10a, shown in FIG. 5. When the wires 22 engage end 2a and the tool is continued to be moved upwardly, trip cup 21 will be held at the collar level so as to allow the outwardly biased legs or pack-off setting springs 2t) to move out of grooves 21a in cup 21 and to immediately contact the inside surface of the tubing 2. As the tool is raised farther, trip cup stop collar 23 makes contact with cup 21, and because sleeve 14 is in relatively snug engagement with tubing 9, collar 23 may continue to move upward and overcome the resistance of the wires 22 so as to bend them to a position, as shown in FIG. 6a. However, if sleeve 14 slips on tube 9 because of the wires 22 holding in the collar 10a, then sleeve 14 will stop moving upwardly when collar 23 contacts cup 21 and tube 9 will move upwardly in sleeve 14 until retrieving ring 24 contacts the bottom of the sleeve and moves it upwardly so as to overcome the compression resistance of wires 22 so as to .bend them.

When the tool is being moved upwardly, while wires 22 are in engagement within collar 10a, pin 18, extending inwardly from ring 19, is in abutment with the lower end of groove 17 in sleeve 14 and thereby carries ring 19, legs 20 and packing 15 upwardly as the wires 22 are bent. This moves legs 20 s o as to be clear of cup 21.

When it is assured that pack-off legs 20 are free of cup 21, the tool is again lowered so that the lower ends of legs 20, being in contact with the surface of tubing 2, will move downwardly` into the enlarged diameter portion formed by collar a and will abut surface 2a of tubing section 2b. As the tool is continued downward, ring 19, legs 20 and packing15 are held securely against downward movement by legs 20 against surface 2a and the enlarged diameter conical surface 16a of sleeve 14 is forced by shear ring 1l, abutting the top of gland 12, into the inside of packing 15, to move portions of the outer surface of the latter into contact with the inner surface of tube 2 to form a seal in annulus 29 between said inner surface and the outer surface of sleeve 14.

In addition to forming the seal which makes possible the formation of good jet flow from nozzle 25, the wire line is relieved of the force of any uid pressure above the seal on the sleeve surfaces by the setting of legs 20 in collar 10a. This latter force is, thus, transferred from the wire line to tubing 2 which has sufcient tensile strength to stand the load, and there is no longer any danger of pumping the tool olf the line.

The tool is then ready for operation. However, since the plugging material 27 in plugged pipe 26 may be of considerable depth, it is very desirable that tubing 9 be capable of considerable downward movement so as to remain in contact with, or adjacent thereto, the plugging material. For this reason, tubing 9 may be several hundred feet long. However, at the time that legs 20 are set in collar 10a and packer 15 is moved on to the conical surface 16a, tube 9 is prevented from moving downwardly -in sleeve 14 by ring or pins 11a in shear ring 11 in abutment with gland 12. Thus, pins 11a must be sheared oi, and this is accomplished by raising the tool so as to actuate weight 5 against jars 6 downwardly in a conventional manner. Then, after pins 11a are thus sheared oi, tubing 9 may be moved downwardly for its full length until the circulation head 7 at the top thereof makes contact with the top of gland 12. The Huid pressure on the top of the tool, resulting from the pumping action downwardly into tube 2, is sutlicient to force tube 9 down in sleeve 14 against the resistance of the packing 13.

After the pumping is started, the uid is forced down into tube 2 and into the tool through openings 8 in the circulating head 7 and out of nozzle 25 in the form of a high pressure jet. The jet flow from nozzle 25 is directed onto material 27 which is eroded away and circulated upward externally of tubing 2 in the annulus 28. The pressure on the tool will keep the nozzle in contact with the plugging material 27 in pipe 26 if the wire line 3 is allowed to slack, or the nozzle can be lowered slowly to keep a relative position with the plugging material 27 as it is eroded away. That is, as the wire line is lowered in the unplugged pipe, the lower end of the nozzle will be lowered substantially the same amount.

When the clean-out operation has been completed, pumping is stopped. 'I'he tool may be raised slowly on the wire line until retrieving ring 24 contacts the trip cup collar 23 and/or the bottom of sleeve 14 so as to raise conical surface 16a away from the interior of the packing material 15, which is thereby now loosened and carried with sleeve 14, upwardly and out, of tubing 2. If it should occur that packing 15 cannot be dislodged from tubing 2, then shear ring or pins 24a on retrieving ring pins 24 will be sheared off in a conventional manner, and the tool, including the nozzle, can be lifted out of tubing 2. Then, if necessary, sleeve 14 and packing 15 can be recovered from the tubing by a fishing tool.

It is to be understood that the term nozzle-forming means as referred to herein is not to be limited in detinition to means forming a frusto-conical internal surface converging toward an orifice, but that it means a tube-like member to produce a jet of uid having a crosssectional area substantially smaller than the unplugged pipe into which the nozzle-forming means is lowered. In

vthis definition, a jet of fluid is intended to mean the flow of fluid which is created by sealing off the exterior of tubing 9 from the interior of tubing 2 and forcing the iluid into openings 8 in the circulation head 7 so as to form a higher pressure ow out of nozzle 25.

It is readily apparent that many changes and modifications of the invention may also be made without departing from the true scope as defined in the appended claims.

I claim:

1. A tool for washing out a plugged pipe in a well bore, said tool comprising: a section of tubing having a circulation head at one end and having a nozzle at its other end; a sleeve slidably engaged on said tubing; shearable means on said tubing above and below said sleeve to limit the vertical movement of said sleeve; packing means surrounding and slidably engaged with said sleeve; a ring surrounding and slidable on said sleeve to bear against one end of said packing means, said ring being positioned on said sleeve in abutting relationship with the lower end of said packing means, whereby movement of said ring will expand said packing means, said ring having downwardly directed and outwardly biased legs extending therefrom; releasable means to hold said legs in a position substantially parallel to said sleeve; and an enlarged diameter portion on said sleeve immediately above said packing means.

2. The invention according to claim 1 comprising: jars on said tool above said circulation head.

3. The invention according to claim 2 having a wire line connected to the top thereof for raising and lowering said tool in a well bore.

4. In a well bore having a plugged pipe disposed therein, apparatus for cleaning out material plugging the pipe, said apparatus comprising: sections of unplugged tubing disposed in the well bore above the plugged pipe; collars connecting said sections of said unplugged tubing; a section of small diameter tubing in said pipe; a sleeve slidably engaged on the exterior of said small diameter tubing; packing means slidably engaged on the exterior of said sleeve, said packing means being releasably engageable adjacent any one of said collars joining said unplugging tubing; a wire line connected to the upper end of said small diameter tubing for raising and lowering the same; downwardly extending and outwardly biased legs extending from said packing means; and a trip cup slidably engageable and surrounding said sleeve, said trip cup having upwardly directed grooves open to the exterior of said sleeve, said trip cup being tted to hold said legs in said grooves against said sleeve when said apparatus is being lowered into said unplugged tubing, said cup having outwardly biased wires extending upwardly therefrom, said wires being releasably engageable in a collar so as tostop the upward movement of said cup and release of said legs when said small diameter tubing is raised within said unplugged tubing.

5. The invention according to claim 4 which comprises: shearing rings on said small diameter tubing above and below said sleeve; said upper shearing ring being adapted to be sheared off of said small diameter tubing when said last-mentioned tubing is lowered in said unplugged tubing so as to cause said legs to be engaged within one of said collars.

6. A tool for washing out a plugged pipe in a well bore when lowered in said well bore in an unplugged pipe, said tool comprising: a section of tubing having a circulation head at one end and having a nozzle at its other end, said circulation head being constructed with an opening thereinto and positioned to permit circulation uid flow into the upper end of said section of tubing from the exterior thereof; a sleeve slidably engaged on said tubing below said opening, said sleeve having a lower portion of a smaller diameter and an upper portion of a frusto-conical shape of a larger diameter; packing means surrounding said lower portion of said sleeve spaced from said unplugged pipe; means actuable to move said sleeve and said packing means relative to each other for locating said packing means on said upper portion of said sleeve to wedge said packing means between said sleeve and said unplugged pipe; and a wire line connected with said circulation head to lower both said sleeve and said section of tubing into said unplugged pipe when said packing means is spaced from said unplugged pipe and to lower said section of tubing inside said sleeve when said packing means is wedged between said unplugged pipe and said sleeve.

7. A tool for washing out a plugged pipe in a well bore when lowered in said well bore in an unplugged pipe, said tool comprising: a section of tubing having a circulation head at one end and having a nozzle at its other end, said circulation head being constructed with an opening thereinto and positioned to permit circulation fluid flow into the upper end of said section of tubing from the exterior thereof; a sleeve slidable on said tubing below said opening, said sleeve having a lower portion of a smaller diameter than that of an upper portion having a frusto-conical surface; first packing means wedged between said section of tubing and said sleeve to provide a seal therebetween; second packing means surrounding said lower portion of said sleeve spaced from said unplugged pipe; means actuable to move said sleeve and said second packing means relative to each other for locating said second packing means on said upper portion of said sleeve to wedge said second packing means between said sleeve and said unplugged pipe; and a wire line connected with said circulation head to lower both said sleeve and said section of tubing into said unplugged pipe and to lower said section of tubing inside said sleeve when said second packing means is wedged between said unplugged pipe and said sleeve.

References Cited in the tile of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,824,283 Marr Sept. 22, 1931 2,647,008 Stewart et al. July 28, 1953 2,749,989 Huber .Tune 12, 1956 2,772,738 Tausch Dec. 4, 1956 2,782,860 Tausch et al Feb. 26, 1957 2,796,130 Huber June 18, 1957 2,806,535 Bender et al Sept. 17, 1957 2,829,715 House et al Apr. 8, 1958 2,908,333 Schwab Oct. 13, 1959 

